Usain Bolt to play for Manchester United at Old Trafford in Legends Game against Barcelona

 It gives Bolt just under three weeks to get himself fit after he pulled up in the farewell race of his career, last Sunday’s 4x100m final at the World Championships in London.

Bolt has long been a Red Devils fan and at various times has talked up his ambition to play professional football. Now with his athletics career over he will finally get the chance to show what he can do at the Theatre of Dreams.

On a previous trip to Old Trafford back in 2012 he was presented with a United shirt with ‘Bolt 9.63’ on the back. The number 9.63 being the time in seconds it took him to claim the gold medal in the 100m final at the Olympic Games in 2012.

Former United captain Bryan Robson will manage the home team, which will feature ex-players including Champions League winners Andy Cole, Edwin van der Sar, Paul Scholes, Jesper Blomqvist, Denis Irwin, Ronny Johnsen, Dwight Yorke, Wes Brown and Phil Neville.

The other former Red Devils stars joined by Bolt are Louis Saha, Mikael Silvestre, Quinton Fortune and Dion Dublin.